AB1506 RHEUMATOLOGY TRAINING EXPERIENCE: ARE RHEUMATOLOGY RESIDENTS WELL-PREPARED NOWADAYS? A SELF-APPRAISAL
Authors: R. Dos-Santos, E. Perez-Pampín, A. Souto Vilas, A. Mera Varela
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2022)

Background Rheumatology residence in Europe is a 4-year training program where Medical Doctors (MD) purchase all capacities for turning into Rheumatologists at each Hospital. European guidelines concerning which contents should be acquired and recommendations for its obtaining are available (UEMS, Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes). 1 Several researches have proven high self-reported abilities, but some deficiencies are displayed in deepen investigations: musculoskeletal ultrasound sonography, poorly crystal identification by optic microscopy and injection skills. As well, low clinical experience remains as one of the most self-reported deficiencies. 2,3 Objectives To assess the quality of one-year rheumatology trainee consultation at the outpatient clinic in a Spanish Hospital. Methods The last year during outpatient consultation of a resident training in Rheumatology in one Spanish hospital was assessed, from May 2021 to May 2022. All patients visited by the trainee were included, absent patients in the consultation date were excluded from the study. Main variables were collected, such as gender, main diagnosis, biological or targeted synthetic treatments and supplementary tests. The final resident’s opinion about his training was also checked. Results During one-year period of the Resident’s consultation, 1419 visits were performed. From those, 470 were the first visit of the patient and 119 of them were solved in the first visit and no follow-up was needed. 60.7% of patients were woman. Most frequent diagnosis were arthropaties: 21.8% psoriatic arthritis, 16.9% rheumatoid arthritis and 8.4% axial spondyloarthritis. Regarding collagenopathies, 3.4% of patients were diagnosed of systemic erythematosus lupus, 1.3% antiphospholipid syndrome, 2.3% systemic sclerosis and 1.3% myopathies. Bone-related diseases as Paget’s disease and osteoporosis were also frequent (21 and 132 patients). The most prevalent vasculitis was giant cell arteritis with 51 patients, although patients with Behçet’s disease, Takayasu artheritis and polyarteritis nodosa were also followed. A total of 207 musculoskeletal ultrasonography were made during daily clinical practice. As well, 67 articular injections were performed. Capillaroscopy and salivary gland biopsy were the least frequent procedures (21 and 18, respectively). Biological therapies most supervised by the resident were anti-TNF (76.9%), followed by anti-IL-6 (12.8%) and anti-IL-17 (10.3%). Conclusion Most of rheumatic diseases can be diagnosed and followed during one-year period in the resident’s training program. Also, ultrasonography and injection skills are granted during this time. The most important self-reported deficiency is the low number of patients under biological/targeted synthetic treatments. References [1]Da Silva J, Faarvang K, Bandilla K, et al. UEMS Section and Board of Rheumatology. UEMS charter of the training of rheumatologists in Europe. Ann Rheum Dis. 2008, 67(4):555-8. [2]Sivera F, Ramiro S, Cikes N, et al. Rheumatology training experience across Europe: analysis of core competences. Arthritis Res Ther. 2016;18:213. [3]Dubey SG, Roberts C, Adebajo AO, et al. Rheumatology training in the United Kingdom: trainees’ perspective. Rheumatology. 2004;43(7):896-900. Disclosure of Interests None declared